A riot on Tuesday in a jail in Ecuador , whose prison system is in crisis due to overcrowding and violence, leaves "more than 100" inmates dead and 52 injured , the government body in charge of prisons (SNAI) reported on Wednesday .

"The @SNAI_Ec, reports that so far more than 100 #PPL (persons deprived of liberty) have died and 52 injured during the incidents registered this Tuesday" in the Guayas 1 prison in the port of Guayaquil (southwest), said the entity through Twitter.

The SNAI added that the police and the prosecution "continue to collect information" in the prison.

Tuesday's revolt became the bloodiest of the year in the country, where since the beginning there were already some 120 deceased prisoners.

In February, there were simultaneous riots in four prisons in three Ecuadorian cities, in which 79 inmates died, including several beheaded.

Given the situation, President Guillermo Lasso announced on Twitter that he was declaring a State of Exception throughout the national prison system.

The president indicated that he will head a security committee in Guayaquil to control the "emergency, guaranteeing the human rights of all those involved."

The state of exception empowers the Executive to suspend rights and the use of public force to restore normality.

The riot aggravated the prison crisis in Ecuador caused by clashes between criminal gangs linked to the Mexican cartels in Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación.